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The suite seems comfortable yet spare, with a look somewhere between large hotel room and small
apartment.

But the 10-year-old girl at the kitchen table, wisecracking and munching from a big bowl of
pimento-stuffed olives, makes the place a home.

“As long as we have this little person here, it’s all fine,” Veronica Sneesby says.

She and her husband, Ben, left their farm in Australia two weeks ago to obtain emergency
treatment at Nationwide Children’s Hospital for their daughter Phelicity, who has battled the
effects of a severe heart defect all her life.

The Sneesbys are settled in, again, for a lengthy stay at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of
Central Ohio, a home away from home for families with ill children. Mr. Sneesby said they’ve been
hosted in six Ronald McDonald houses over the years, from Florida to Columbus to Australia.

“It’s saved us,” he said. “And we’re not the only family who couldn’t have lived without
it."

The local Ronald McDonald House is almost always full, and officials say waiting lists, while
generally short, have become too common. They aim to remedy that by adding 40 rooms to the current
80-room site on E. Livingston Avenue, an expansion that will make it the largest Ronald McDonald
House in the world.

Executive director and CEO Dee Anders said the charity has raised about $4.9 million of its $6
million goal. Officials kicked off a fundraising campaign yesterday to close the gap, with
construction to begin next summer.

Families are not charged for the lodging. Many, including the Sneesbys, struggle with medical
bills, travel expenses and a loss of income as they take time away from work, home and everything
else to stay with their children.

“Most of them are from out of town,” Anders said. “We’re getting a lot of families,
increasingly, from across the country or around the world.”

The Sneesbys made their way to Nationwide Children’s even before Phelicity was born. When an
ultrasound revealed that their daughter had a condition known as hypoplastic left heart syndrome —
essentially, half a heart — doctors told the couple they could abort or deliver and let her
die.

Instead, they took to the Internet and found a surgeon in Orlando, Fla., who had developed a
less-risky way of correcting the defect. They contacted Dr. Mark Galantowicz and followed him when
he became co-director of the Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s, a journey featured in
TheDispatch in 2002.

“You don’t put a price on your child’s life,” Mrs. Sneesby, 34, said of their decision to seek
help half a world away. “Nothing else matters.”

Phelicity is second-oldest of the four Sneesby girls. Arabella, 7, came to Columbus with her
sister and parents; 13-year-old Mahalia and 3-year-old Elizabeth likely will arrive soon.

Although Phelicity has thrived, her complications and trips to Nationwide Children’s have been
numerous. Venous and circulatory issues, along with a protein-absorption problem, keep pushing her
back into treatment.

The last time she took ill, doctors in Australia told her parents they could offer palliative
care only. The Sneesbys quickly booked flights, agreeing not to sue the airlines if their daughter,
who was fast deteriorating, didn’t survive the trip.

“And now look at her,” said Mr. Sneesby, 36, whose eyes brighten when he talks about Phelicity’s
strong will and sharp sense of humor.

Having lobbied successfully for her favorite snack, she wondered aloud: “Does President Obama
like olives?” Her parents cracked up.

“In Australia, she rides motorbikes,” Mr. Sneesby said. “Seven hours at a time. Might not stop
until she hits a barbed-wire fence and bloodies herself. She’s got a very good life. She’s got a
hard life.”

The family has horses at home. And dogs. But they won’t be going back anytime soon, if ever.
Phelicity likely is headed for a heart transplant, and the family can’t afford to keep their rural
homestead south of Brisbane.

Although medical care is free in Australia, they have no insurance that applies here. The
hospital provides much of Phelicity’s care, but the Sneesbys still spend thousands every month.
They plan to sell what they can and look for a place in Columbus. “Every dollar is worth 10 to us
now,” Mr. Sneesby said.

In the meantime, they’re grateful for the furnished suite that keeps them together and close to
the care Phelicity needs to survive.“Home is wherever our family is,” Mr. Sneesby said.